


I’m Still Here

by PlotWitch



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-18
Updated: 2005-03-18
Packaged: 2019-03-15 18:36:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13619280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlotWitch/pseuds/PlotWitch
Summary: It's a miserable drive home from the funeral.





	I’m Still Here

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Magyar available: [Még mindig itt vagyok](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13620882) by [Xaveri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xaveri/pseuds/Xaveri)



> Written for the Edward/Anita fan music compilation, _Random Lovers_.

“Almost there,” Anita muttered to herself as she fiddled once again with the heater. It seemed to her that after the sweltering heat of the desert, her return to St. Louis was a misery of snow as it whipped across the Jeep’s windshield and stole the warmth from the car. She desperately wanted to get home and get warm again, though she wasn’t sure it would happen.

She’d been cold ever since she’d gotten the phone call from Donna. The phone call to tell her that Ted had died. That Edward, her Edward, had died.

And she’d driven to the desert in a haze to watch his widow cry over an empty coffin, to watch it slip lower and lower until it was hidden from her sight by the darkness of the hole. She driven for days now, and it never seemed to take her far enough away from the thoughts and accusations that circled her like a pack of hungry wolves, intent on ripping her to shreds.

The guilt ate through her. That maybe, just maybe, if she had told him the truth. _Have you ever had a romantic thought about me?_ And she’d lied. God help her, she’d lied through her teeth. Her jaw clenched, her fingers tightened on the steering wheel, and Anita bit back the tears that threatened as she pushed the angry thoughts away.

“Home,” she whispered as she pulled into the drive.

Then there was only the whisper of snow falling as she slid out, grabbed her duffel and slammed the door behind her. A weary trudge through the bitter cold left her feeling even more frozen, and she numbly slid the key in the lock and turned it, listening to the echoing emptiness in the house. So empty; he’d never pick her lock again.

She dropped the damp bag just inside the door before she closed it and locked it, sliding the chain across and turning away. The keys were dropped on the counter as she walked past the table in the kitchen to the freezer and the coffee that it held. It wasn’t until she turned back that she noticed the fluttering piece of paper.

A plain white sheet with a single bullet holding it down so that it wouldn’t move. Her heart stopped as she moved closer, hand going to the butt of the Browning where it rested on her left side in the shoulder holster, anxious that someone had been in her house without her knowing.

She moved closer, peering at it, trying to understand why someone would leave a message for her in so bizarre a manner. After all, Edward had been the only one to leave her little messages like this. Then she read it.

_I’m still here._

“Oh, God,” she whispered as she turned around. “Oh, my God.”

And there he was. Faded blue jeans, a white t-shirt, bare feet. Curling blond hair that needed to be trimmed, a faint shadow from the need to shave. The same piercing blue eyes, tired and a little wary. He held his arms out, a faint smile crossing his lips, and she went to him, nearly crying as his arms wrapped around her.

“Sh, Anita,” he whispered. “I’m still here.”


End file.
